It is a sore task that God has given to the sons of men with which to occupy themselves.--Kohelet

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

If Someone Lied to You

I pose this question to you. If someone lied to you, and I knew about it, would you expect me to tell you? Have you ever been in this position before? You probably have. This type of thing happens all the time at work or school. It puts you in an awkward position. You can either tell the person about the lie or not. If you tell them, in a way you have betrayed the person telling the lie. This person might be a better friend to you, so you feel some loyalty to keep the secret. On the other hand, a good friend shouldn't expect you to cover up a lie. So you must consider your options. Either way, you are going to betray one or the other.

If you go to the victim, you get to clear your conscious. You can give them the information and let them do with it what they will. At this point, one of two things is going to happen. They will either believe you or not. It is possible that they trust the other person more than you. If they do, it will be hard for you to convince them of the lie. I'm not sure if you are obligated to convince them at all. It is ultimately up to them. If they do believe you, your work is done. Or, is it? In some cases, you might be expected to console the person. They might want more information from you. They will, no doubt, have questions for which they need answers in order to fully ascertain the truth. This will, most likely, not be the end of it.

Now, let's add a few variables. What if the liar made money from the lie? Is it worse if they received some benefit from their lie? It is definitely a strike against their character. While there are different types of liars, the worst is the pathological liar. A pathological liar is a person who lies to get their way. These people are very goal oriented. They are also, often charismatic, manipulative, and show little or no concern for the feelings of others.
What if the liar is someone you've known for years? Maybe they've been lying to you all along? The manipulator will always find some way to convince you that what they are telling you is the truth. Even when you have a sinking feeling that they are wrong, they will tell another lie just to keep it going; even making you doubt yourself.

With all this in mind, would you still expect me to tell you the truth? What if that truth will call into question everything you believe to be true? Do you still want to know? I would. So, let's take a look at the truth.

Truth can be defined as "the real facts about something". Truth is pure. It is not corrupt. Manipulators know this. They also know that a small amount of untruth mixed into the truth allows it to appear to be true. This is a classic tactic of the manipulator. They can twist the truth ever so slightly, one may not even realize it has happened. Once they do this, they can continue with their charade until what they are telling you couldn't be farther from the truth.

The real fact is that the church has been doing this for centuries. It is generally accepted that the Hebrew Scriptures are the word of God. This truth is not only held by the Hebrew people. It is held by most of the other religions of the world as well. This can be called a "truth" in that it is generally accepted by most people.

The church is a master manipulator. Keep in mind that when I say the church, I am referring to the entire Christian religion; all denominations. The church is extremely goal oriented. They use charismatic leaders to convince trusting people to bend to their will. This is where the trickery comes into play. They appear to show genuine concern for other people but are only concerned as long as they are getting their way. They will spend millions of dollars to help people while at the same time proselytizing them. If you've ever worked in the church you know this to be true. Have you ever seen them help someone without mentioning that person's "salvation"? They will explain that in doing this, they are only trying to give them the ultimate help; that is a life in christ. This sounds like a good thing but isn't it proper to give charity without expecting anything in return? You see, there is a little bit of pure truth, the charity, mixed with something else; an ulterior motive. Do you see the subtlety?

They do the same thing with scripture. The church attempts to base itself on the Hebrew Scriptures. They include the "old testament" in their bible. Of course, these scriptures have been maligned, but they include them. They talk about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and David. They read from the Psalms. This is the purity with which they mix their untruth. Take, for example, the concept of tithing. Now the church will tell you that Jesus did away with the Law of Moses. They will tell you that no one could ever follow it anyway. But they will later tell you that you have to tithe. This is part of the Law of Moses which they say no one can follow. In their corrupted form, the tithe goes to the church. This is not according to scripture. One may argue that they need money to support the church. They do, and they use some of it to do good. But this doesn't excuse what they do to get it. If a bank robber gives some of his stolen money to charity he is still a thief. Does this seem like a small thing to you? It gets worse.

The church takes pieces of prophecy and tells us they are about Jesus. They do this in a tricky way. Words and phrases are changed to fit the story they are telling. Most people don't read Hebrew unless they were raised in a Jewish household. Throughout history, the church has used this fact to their advantage. The translations we have today of the "old testament" have simply been accepted as legitimate. No one ever thought to challenge the validity of the translations. The only thing one could do would be to find a Jewish person to read it to determine if it was wrong. But the church cunningly inserted a blockade for this. The church tells us that the Jews are blind to their own scriptures. The New Testament has nothing good to say about the Jews. They are the bad guys in the story who can't be trusted. So, most Christians simply stay away from them. Not until recently, with the advent of the internet, have Christians even thought about looking into the Hebrew Scriptures. Many are finding out that what the church has been teaching for over two-thousand years is simply wrong. There are some good English translations of the Hebrew Bible available online. I invite you to look at them and decide for yourself. One that I like to use is on the Chabad website. The Complete Jewish Bible. It includes a great commentary by Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki 1040- 1105).

So there is the truth about the church and the lies it has been telling for so long. I cannot urge you enough to study the Hebrew Scriptures. It is amazing when you see the truth come alive. Now that you have the information, what will you do with it? Please don't misunderstand what I am telling you. I am in no way saying that Christians are bad people. I am not telling you they are maliciously telling you things that they know to be untrue. Christians believe the way they do because it is what they were taught. What they were taught is the lie.
The Bible teaches us that God is one. The church teaches us that God is three. The Bible teaches us that God is not a man. The church teaches us that God became a man. The Bible teaches us that God's word is eternal. The church teaches us that God's word changed and that the Law is no more. The Bible teaches us that no one can die for the sins of another person. The church teaches that Jesus died for our sins. The Bible teaches us that the Messiah will have children. The church teaches us that Jesus didn't have any children. The Bible teaches us that the Messiah will sin and make a sin offering for himself. The church teaches that Jesus was without sin. The church teaches that the New Testament is the word of God, yet it is filled with contradictions. Does God make mistakes?

So I leave you with the information. Remember you have only two choices. You can either believe it or not.